Airbnb's impact on cities

Post by cm3 » Sun, Jun 26, 2016, 11:15 AM UTC

yummyfajitas wrote: post #21

trusche wrote: post #7

Here in Dublin, Ireland, rents are exploding, mostly because of a severe shortage in apartments, and it's a fair question to ask if AirBnB is partially to blame. From [1]: > The average rental value of a two-bed apartment in the city centre at €2,000 per month, less a management fee, would equate to the apartment being occupied for just 120 nights of the year through Airbnb. > Investors have confirmed that if correct…

The obvious solution to a severe shortage in apartments is to build more. Why doesn't Ireland do this? Pigeonhole principle: if K people want to be in Ireland at any one time, and there are N < K apartments, K - N people will have a problem. All the folks criticizing AirBnB want to do is make sure they aren't the ones who face the problem.

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 26, 2016, 11:16 AM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #38

yummyfajitas wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said: All the folks criticizing AirBnB want to do is make sure they aren't the ones who face the problem. Tourists are people too, and need a place to live. The folks in Barcelona just want to make sure it's the tourists, rather than them, who suffer from the housing shortage.

Tourists before AirBnB would simply not visit somewhere if the hotel price was beyond what they could afford. Is there any justification at all that could prioritise tourists over residents for living space?

Post by cm3 » Sun, Jun 26, 2016, 11:17 AM UTC

YokoZar wrote: post #44

Symbiote wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tourists before AirBnB would simply not visit somewhere if the hotel price was beyond what they could afford. Is there any justification at all that could prioritise tourists over residents for living space?

Tourists are seen as a way to generate revenue for a city while not incurring the sorts of costs in services that residents do. Similar motivations cause cities to build office buildings without corresponding homes. Empirically it seems like cities value tourists over residents -- if cities actually wanted residents, they'd approve construction of housing for them.

Post by cm3 » Sun, Jun 26, 2016, 11:20 AM UTC

trusche wrote: post #7

Here in Dublin, Ireland, rents are exploding, mostly because of a severe shortage in apartments, and it's a fair question to ask if AirBnB is partially to blame. From [1]: > The average rental value of a two-bed apartment in the city centre at €2,000 per month, less a management fee, would equate to the apartment being occupied for just 120 nights of the year through Airbnb. > Investors have confirmed that if correct…

Post by RobertoG » Sun, Jun 26, 2016, 11:25 AM UTC

EugeneOZ wrote: post #51

RobertoG wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" In Barcelona tourism is about third of city's income, so protests like this are ridiculous. " I think that the debate in Barcelona (and other cities) is a little more sophisticate of what your are implying. There is a balance somewhere that cities have to find and this is what they are trying to do. Another consideration is that excessive tourism will kill what makes the city interesting.

I'm not trying to say it's simple issue. But if you hate tourists - don't invite them to take their money. If money of tourists are interesting - use police to control drunk tourists and don't call all tourists "pain". After 2 visits to Barcelona and about $15k spent there, I feel cheated if I was actually not welcomed there.